Read Online Book of the Guardian 3: The Last Mission by Ben Winston - Free Book Online

duty to kill or destroy those they had deemed the enemy of their God. They would go to any lengths to do it. They even strapped bombs to their own bodies, went to a crowded place, and detonated it. Dione, these people actually believe by doing something like that, it will ensure their place with their God while making life better for their people. These Tammerain are like that. They have been conditioned to believe that any action they take will help their Goddess. Killing humans is something they know to be a holy sanctified action."
    "That's twisted!" the Captain replied.
    "Yes, it is. But it is also what we are dealing with," John explained. "That was the reason I gave you the no mercy order."
    "I understand much better now Sir, thank you."
    John had entered his drop pod while he had been talking to the Captain and had secured his weapons. He felt the ship bucking as she entered the atmosphere as it evaded fire from the ships still in orbit above them. It was a really rough ride until everything stopped and became smooth. The pod had been ejected from the ship.
    John brought up the data feeds from the sensors on the hull of the pod so he could see the area they were dropping into. The Captain had dropped them over a large park in the center of the city.
    Assault pods were fired from a ship usually in orbit and directed to a spot on the surface by their own guidance computers. Even though they had been 'dropped' ten thousand feet over the city, this would be considered a 'low' drop. The retro thrusters fired almost immediately in order to slow them down enough to land without killing the occupants.
    Right away, John could see which direction the Tammerain killers had gone and let the platoon leader know they had to move in that direction. In his mind, John knew that the Tammerain had most likely dropped more 'troops' than they could chase down, but he was determined to do as much as he could with what he had.
    A shuddering impact and he was down, the hatch blew off, and John was out, taking a position to help cover the troops that had grounded near his position. On the inside of his visor, his display automatically tracked the positions of the troops near him as well as the rest of the platoon. The Ell-tee and five other troops had grounded closest to the direction the Tammerain had gone. John directed 'his' people to head in that direction.
    In the park around them lay the bodies of dead civilians, over by a path through the park, John saw the dead bodies of a man and his dog. The dog had obviously tried to protect his master before it was blown apart by a Tammerain pulse weapon.
    "Ignore it people! The only way we'll be able to stop this is if we keep it from getting to us. The rest of the people here are counting on us to protect them! We have to stop the bastards that did this! Use these images! Use the feelings it creates in you! Use them to stop these butchers before they hurt more people!" John told his troops.
    "There aren't any wounded, just dead." One of the troops said quietly.
    "Captain Stilts, could you request an armed medical unit to land at our LZ to search for wounded and police the dead? This is going to be a hard day," John asked the Captain of the destroyer.
    "Affirmative, General. The other Destroyers are dropping their teams in different areas around the City, so there will be friendlies in the area. Direct any survivors to go to the park you landed in, and I'll make sure a medical support shuttle gets there. I'll let you know where the aid station is as soon as we know," the Captain replied sounding harried.
    "Thanks Dione," John replied as they linked up with the rest of the platoon. Switching channels, John spoke to the Ell-tee over the platoon channel. "We gotta catch up the bastards, Ell-tee. Direct any survivors we find to the park; Stilts is going to set up a medevac (medical evacuation) point there. Let's get moving."
    "You heard the man, ladies! Use your scanners to check the buildings as we